A Mermaid, an Island, and Love
by FaylinnNorse
Summary: There was once a mermaid who fell in love with a prince, right? But it all started with an island...Little Mermaid retelling, 3 POVs
1. Chapter 1

The only reason I started a new story is because I am currently unable to get to any of my other ones (sticks out tongue at stupid computer) and I wanted to try out writing in slightly different style. If you like it I'll continue. I didn't really feel like editing so point out any mistakes you might see. So remember to review!! Also if you can think of a better title, tell me. I don't think this one really flows

* * *

Shallis

I've heard tell that usual to begin a story, humans use the phrase "Once Upon a Time." A good phrase, I suppose, although where I come from, time is mostly irrelevant. We live quite longer than you humans, a good three hundred years and then we're gone. Just the foam of the sea. And of course, the foam of the sea doesn't think about time. So we used a different phrase. "On a Far Wave of the Sea." And so I shall begin my story.

On a far wave of the sea, I was sleeping. This may seem like a very uneventful way to begin a story, but I assure you, it was the first key moment that would change my life forever. Most who would tell you about me would start with when I first saw Prince Thylan. (Thylan is telling me as I write this that he would assuredly start the story there as well, as he was undoubtedly the most important and prominent figure in my life. Ha! The conceited boy. Now he's telling me that he's not a boy but a man. Perhaps if he acted like it I would call him such.) As I was saying, I was asleep and letting myself drift in the underwater waves and currents that pulled me here and there.

Now I have a habit of sleeping with my arms out past my head and that is how I was then. I woke up upon feeling a sharp, splitting pain between my fingers. I pulled them to me and looked at them. The thin, translucent webbing (almost like this thing on land that you call a spiderweb) in between my fingers was splitting apart and starting to bleed. I was quite startled by this, having never seen anything of the like before.

I glanced towards where my hands had been, searching for the cause of this. There was nothing but water. Although, upon looking closer, the water almost looked as if it changed. As if there were some sort of barely distinguishable wall there. Confused and a little frightened, I quickly swam in the other direction.

In fact, I swam all the way back to the city. Well, we called it a city, though it really is nothing like one. You would probably simply call it a reef, as it is merely a bunch of brightly colored coral and seaweed deep within the ocean. Still, it is and ever will be my city.

Most of the merfolk stayed at or around the city, though I wouldn't necessarily say they lived there. Merfolk are never content to live anywhere. We swim here and there and wherever we want to, because we must. It's in our very being, the wanderlust. It's our ocean and we must see it—all of it. Maybe that's why I felt so trapped there. Thylan tells me I'm rambling.

I swam practically straight into my mother, the Lady Muirgen. Growing up, I never really understood why my parents were called _Lord _Cavan and _Lady_ Muirgen. As a result I was also called _Lady_ Shallis, but there seemed to be no reason for it. We didn't really rule the merfolk, we had no real power over them. I was told that we were an "important" and "old" family, whatever that meant. I'd never heard tell of our beginnings. I'm rambling again.

I ran into my mother.

"Shallis, watch where you're going," she said with a slight laugh at my clumsiness.

"Mother, I'm bleeding!" I said holding up my hands. "My fingers are splitting in half!" Maybe I was exaggerating...a little.

She regarded my split webbing thoughtfully. "What happened?"

"I was asleep and all the sudden they were just...splitting!"

"I'm sure you just cut yourself on some coral, darling," she replied. "Be more careful about where you're swimming."

"But—"

She swam away.

I frowned. What were the chances of my getting cut in _all_ the spaces between my fingers? Not very high, in my opinion. However, there wasn't much to be done about it. So I sat on some coral and watched the colorful fish swim by. Except I didn't call them fish, of course. After all, do you naturally refer to fellow people as "humans" when you're just looking at them? Probably not. We called them Felni. Translated it would mean "like us." A sort of general term for all sea creatures to refer to each other as, to differentiate between us and the things on land. Of course, most sea creatures didn't exactly talk, but I'll get to that later.

* * *

Sybil

I'll never forget the day I first saw Prince Thylan. You would think that would be how Shallis would start, but no, it's me. The kingdom of Enstrom is a series of small islands. The royal family lived on the largest one, to which I was moving to on my sixteenth birthday. Before this I lived on one of the smaller islands. Thylan's Uncle Sam found me there, a simple orphan girl who liked to pretend to ballroom dance on the seashore. He decided to bring me to court. I think the original idea was that perhaps Thylan and I would be married someday.

In any case, he told me that with my lovely golden hair and punctual blue eyes I would fit in just swell. (His words, not mine. I presumed this to be a compliment, though I was never quite sure what he meant by my eyes being punctual.) And so he brought me to the big island.

When we stepped off the boat, Thylan was there waiting for us. He sat on the shore, dark and brooding. He did that a lot really. He was a very moody prince. (He is now glaring at me as Shallis laughs.) He was one year my senior, his parents were pushing him to get married and his father ruled with an iron fist (or so it was said), so I suppose he thought he had reason to brood. Anyhow, that aside, we got along quite well. We could often be found roaming all over the island together and I was known to be the only one who could get him out of his dark reveries.

Sometimes we would take a boat to one of the other islands. The one closest us was small and...well, eerie. No one lived there. There were houses and boats and tables and chairs, but it was completely abandoned. It was as if the people had just up and left one day, without taking any of their belongings with them.

Thylan told me that his great grandfather had come to the island and driven all of the people to drown in the sea. He seemed to like telling me odd stories about the cruelness of his ancestors. Perhaps a way to deal with it without brooding. I'd heard the stories of course, but I wasn't sure if I really believed them. King Daevrin was quite nice to me, even if his son did act the part of a troubled heir to a long line of cruel kings.

* * *

Thylan

As Sybil has so _kindly_ pointed out, I was not a happy prince. I'd grown up ever hearing stories of how my forefathers had conquered this or that, killing everyone in there path. What was I supposed to do? Go along with them, or not? And then there were all those silly girls in their frilly dresses and nothing in their heads. I despised them. They were always fauning over me and batting their eyelashes wildly as if they'd gotten dust in their eyes. Shallis tells me to stop complaining and actually write something important.

I can't think of anything very important to say. I suppose I could say something else about the island. They had been a sea-faring people, who lived off of marketing fish to trading vessels. Until they disappeared. It was said that either my great grandfather came to the island, angry over some petty issue and threatened to kill them all, but instead they ran to the sea and drowned, or that they simply vanished. Since I've never found people to simply vanish into thin air, the former seemed much more likely.

So my great grandfather was responsible for the drowning of an entire island. A small island, granted, but an island all the same. What a legacy, eh?

My father was known throughout the seven seas to rule Enstrom with an iron fist. I could say else about him, but then I would have to jump ahead in the story.

I liked sailing. The wind and salty sea breeze made me feel alive. I did it a lot.

My favorite color is green. Shallis is now taking this away until I have something more important to say.


	2. Chapter 2

Sybil

On a day in early summer, Thylan and I were about to go out on one of the big schooner ships with the King's finest sailors. We stood on the beach, watching them ready the ship, hoisting the sails, checking the masts, loading what they needed.

"Lovely day for sailing today,?" I remarked, looking out at the shining sea.

He glanced at me. "Aye," he said. "A lovely day for swimming, too," he said, with a mischievous gleam in his eye.

"Thylan, you wouldn't push me off the boat!"

He shrugged and gave an impish smile. "I never said that I would."

"You'd better not!"

He kicked a bit of sand at me.

I kicked back.

"Thylan," a deep voice came from behind us. It was King Daevrin.

Thylan turned quickly. "Yes, sir?"

"Might I have a word?" Daevrin asked.

It wasn't much of a question. It's not like Thylan could have said no if he wanted to. So he simply shot me one of his strangled, poor me looks and followed the king. I watched them go, then turned back towards the sea.

I walked out into the serf, feeling the water pull the wet sand from beneath me, then replace it with more on the tops of my feet. It was a bit cold, but it felt delightful. I felt...free and like a part of the ocean itself.

Something struck my foot. I glanced downward. There was a large conch shell, perfectly intact next to my foot. I picked it up and rinsed it in the water. It was smooth and pearly white; I'd never seen one in such good of shape.

I ran my fingers over it, then put it to my ear. Uncle Sam said that you could hear the sea in such shells, because they were still echoing from the years they'd been in it. He knew a lot of odd facts like that, but I never was quite sure which ones were true and which were not.

Sure enough, I could hear the sea in it, but I heard other things as well. Voices, though I could not quite make out what they were saying. They all seemed to be swirled together, as if lost in a wind storm. Finally I made out one voice, a woman's, sweet and enticing, yet dangerous-sounding.

"You may go to the sea, if you must, but if you do, that is all you shall ever be."

* * *

Thylan

It seems that it has now been deemed that I have something important to say after all. So, I will continue.

I followed my father a short distance away from Sybil, further up the beach. He stopped rather abruptly and turned to face me. He seemed to be frowning at me ever so slightly with that "I don't know what to make of you" look on his face.

I stared back.

"Thylan," he began, "you're—what—seventeen, eighteen years old now?"

"I turned eighteen six months ago, Father," I said dryly. The man couldn't even remember his own son's birthday.

"Right," he said. "Well, you're...quite old enough to marry, and...I demand that you do."

I looked at him. "I already knew that."

"Your wedding shall take place in one month's time." He said it simply, as if he were telling me that it might rain this afternoon, not _announcing_ my wedding date!

"What?!" I roared at him. "How—who—?"

"I'm leaving that up to you," he said. "You may find your own bride, though I suggest you do it quickly."

I stared at him. The nerve of the man, suggesting such a thing! Where in the world was I to find a girl to marry in one month?

"I can provide princesses for you to meet, if you wish."

"No!" I yelled, glaring at me.

He merely shrugged. "Suit yourself. If you have any second thoughts, though..."

"I won't," I said stonily.

He looked at me then. For a moment he didn't look like King Daevrin who ruled with an iron fist and more like a father. "Thylan...I'm not trying to make you miserable," he said.

That did it. I blew up. "You're _not trying to make me miserable_?! And how in the world do you figure that, Father? First, you bring in all those princesses. Now you'll finally stop, but you're making me getting married in _one_ month! Me! Married! When there's no one in the world I would dream of marrying!"

He almost looked sorry.

I wasn't buying it. "Just...leave me alone, for once!"

To my surprise, he walked away.

I watched him for a moment, half wishing he'd come back and say something to me. Yell at me, even, so he'd seem more like himself and I wouldn't feel bad for yelling at him. But he didn't. So I went to join Sybil.

"Well?" she asked, when I returned.

I said nothing, simply glowered at the sand. I didn't feel like talking to her. Before long, the sailors were done with the ship.

"Let's go," I said and marched aboard.

* * *

Shallis

The webbing between my fingers never really grew back. It hung around my fingers in thin, white folds, and eventually I grew used to being able to move my fingers around a bit more, though I never forgot that strange day. So I went to see my great grandmother.

Others said that she knew everything about our people, and she was one of the oldest there was, nearing her three hundredth year. The merfolk don't age like humans, though. She still swam around the same as all of us, as if she really wasn't old at all, and her skin was still as smooth as ever. Her hair, though, was a pale, silvery color, that shimmered in the light.

"Shallis," she said, upon seeing me, "its so good to see you."

I smiled. "You, too, Grandmother. How are you?"

"Oh, good, very good. And you?"

"I'm well, but I was wondering...do you know any reason for...this to happen to my fingers?" I asked, holding out my hands to her.

She took them and looked. Her face seemed to go white. "Where were you when this happened, Shallis?" she asked.

"I was just drifting some ways out of the City," I replied.

"How far out?" she asked strongly.

"I—I don't know," I said, startled by her reaction. "A ways. Why?"

"Do not go there again, Shallis, do not."

"But—why?"

"Just don't. Promise me, Shallis!" she said, her blue eyes flashing.

"I—I'll try, but...I can't promise, I was sleeping when it happened..."

She seemed to calm down then. She nodded. "Well, do try." Then she changed the subject abruptly, leaving me wondering what was going on.

* * *

Well, I hope you liked it although I didn't think the ending was the best...anyway, review! 


	3. Chapter 3

Sybil

On board the ship, I stood on the deck holding onto my back in which I had put the conch shell that I could hear the voices in. I had been going to tell Thylan, but now did not seem to be the best time. He was sitting on the rail, scowling out at the sea.

I gazed at him for a moment. I'd be lying if I said I didn't think he was handsome (to which he now smiles quite smugly. He will no doubt never cease to remind me I said so.) His hair was black and hung in wild curls and his eyes were a piercing, intense blue. I wasn't exactly in love with him, though the thought _had_ crossed my mind a time or two.

"Sybil," he said, as his eyes flicked to me quite suddenly. He seemed to glance me over then stare at me in the eyes for a few moments, more grave and serious than I'd seen him ever before.

"Yes?" I asked when he didn't speak.

"Do you think...you could—marry me?" he finally asked.

I stared at him as I felt my face grow red all over. "Are you...actually asking me, or simply asking me if I think I could—if you did ask?" I finally managed to say.

"If you think that you could if I did ask," he replied.

I was eternally grateful that he didn't say he was actually asking me to marry him. Aside from sounding like a fool in my earlier question, I would have had no idea what to say. As it was, I was beginning to feel slightly more calm. I considered his question. Could I marry him if he asked me to? "I don't know," I finally said. "I suppose so. I mean, it wouldn't be horrible. But why are you asking me this now?"

He sighed and jumped off the rail. "No, not horrible. Father says I have one month to find a girl to marry. Judging by the ladies at court I know, it doesn't seem very likely that I'll fall head over heels by then. But then there's you," he said.

He came so close to me I could feel his breath on my neck. My heart was pounding. I didn't know what to say. I wasn't in love with him...at least, I hadn't _thought_ I was in love with him.

"You're very pretty," he said. "And you're my best friend." He stared intently into my eyes, as if he was searching for something, but he didn't find it there. He turned away and walked back to the rail, leaning over it.

"All my life, I've felt like I was looking for something. But usually I think I wouldn't know what it was even if it was right under my nose. I don't want to marry some girl who I despise, Sybil. But I don't want to force you into marrying me either, especially when I'm...like this. I don't know who I am. I don't know what kind of king I'll be, or more to the point, what kind of man I'll be. I just—I don't know what to do," he said.

I pressed my lips together. I never knew what to say when he went all angst like this. Finally I simply walked over to him and put my hand on his. I drew a somewhat shaky breath, feeling like I was about to sign my life away, but I had to. He was my best friend. "If you don't find someone else in a month I'll marry you," I said quietly.

He nodded. "Thank you, Sybil."

It started raining. Not exactly the best omen for our almost-engagement.

* * *

Shallis

One day I drifted just beneath the surface, watching water fall from the sky, this thing you would call rain. It always fascinated me. I didn't understand why there would be tiny pieces of the ocean falling from above, but I liked it. When the pieces hit the surface they would circle outward, forming huge hoops above me.

I would never go to the surface, though. Father thought that just going to the surface would make one as low as the sirens, who went there to show off their beauty and voices to lure men to the water and drown them. All who did such things were banished and never seen again. I had heard that the sirens simply couldn't accept that they had no souls, so they tried to steal them from mortal men. It seemed strange to me. I mean, I could imagine whimsically wishing for a soul, but to actually kill humans to get one...we'd never had them in the first place, so why did it matter so much? At any rate, the stories were hushed, kept in secret, so no one would know. I rather liked hearing about them, they were mysterious, dangerous.

I watched the rain, then I saw something else. Something dark, just to my right. It cast a dark shadow over me as it moved closer. It seemed to pull the water towards it, sucking me under it. Frightened, I swam away frantically. The waves seemed to be getting stronger, and they tossed me about, pushing me against the hard surface of the dark thing. Trying to get away, I found myself at the surface.

I could see the line of the ocean extending out in every direction, as far as I could see. Above it was dark and the water dropped from the darkness, harder than before. The dark thing was a huge vessel and there were people upon it. I could not see their faces, but their forms were rushing about and I could hear their voices. The whole thing was strange, but beautiful, though I felt like a criminal just looking at it. I quickly found that I couldn't breathe and I felt like I was drying out. I quickly dove back under the water, taking a big breath.

As I did so, the world above the water flashed suddenly, bright white light. There was a splintering crack from above. I was half afraid that this was some sort of punishment for me, for going to the surface. I quickly dismissed the idea as ridiculous and started to swim away. But I wanted to know what was going on. I lingered for a moment, then I saw him.

He was a human sinking in the water. I had expected humans to be much different from merpeople, but he wasn't at all. In fact, there was very little difference between us, save that he had legs and I did not. I was going to leave him. Father said that we should simply leave humans alone and they'll leave us alone, but he was so...I don't know how to describe it. He was handsome, but there was more to it than that. When I looked at him, I felt like I'd found something. Like I could tell just from seeing him that if I knew him we would get along wondrously. I couldn't watch him die.

I swam to him and wrapped my arms around him, trying to pull him up to the surface. It didn't work very well. I wasn't strong enough. I gripped his hand in frustration, willing him to wake up, to swim to the surface with me. Nothing happened.

We were sinking together when I felt his hand tighten around mine. I knew in that moment that he was alive and his life was still worth saving. I swam some more, harder and seemed to make some progress. He tried, too. His movements were slow and it was obvious he was slowly slipping out of consciousness, but it still helped.

By the time we got to the surface, he wasn't awake at all. I hoped the air was still doing him some good. I held him up as best I could, occasionally dipping underwater for a breath. I had no idea what to do with him, or where land would be.

Then I saw a girl swimming in front of us. Her hair was bright golden. It scared me. It reminded me of something I could not quite place in my memory. I felt odd and out of place just looking at her. Finally I swallowed my fear and swam after her, as she seemed to know where she was going.

She must have heard the splashing for she turned to look at us. Her eyes were kind. Blue like the sea. I had expected them to be black for some reason. She looked startled to see me, but relieved when she saw the human I held.

"Thylan!" she exclaimed.

I swam towards her.

She half grabbed him once we were within touching distance. She appeared immensely relieved. She said something I did not understand and pointed in the direction she'd been swimming.

I stared at her, then decided she must have meant that was the way she wanted to go, where shore would be. I nodded and we set off together, both holding tightly to the man.

Before long, we could see the land. Encouraged, we swam faster. Then I saw something in the water. A translucent, wall-like structure, like the one where my webbing had split. I immediately dropped the man.

The girl looked at me in confusion.

I simply shook my head.

After a moment she nodded and started to swim again, alone with the man. It wasn't much further anyway; she'd be fine.

I watched them go. I almost wished I continued, but...I couldn't. I was afraid of what might happen if I went past that wall. It had done nothing to the girl, but...she was human and I was not. I wondered what she would think of me, if she would tell anyone. My parents would not want that.

I splashed to get her attention.

She glanced back at me.

I spoke to her, she clearly didn't understand. I pointed to myself, to her and then my mouth. I shook my head, hoping she would understand. I think she did.

She nodded and turned away.

* * *

Thylan

I woke up on the beach with Sybil next to me.

"Thylan, you're awake," she exclaimed.

I glanced at her, feeling confused.

"We were shipwrecked, but...we swam here. We're on the island—the deserted one."

I nodded, then sat up. I felt...odd. Like I'd found whatever it was I'd been looking for, then it had slipped out of my grasp. I felt like I was missing something, now. "Did you...bring me back here, then?" I asked.

Sybil bit her lip, then nodded.

"Alone?"

She nodded again, then dropped her eyes to the ground.

I stared at her, then realized I must have sounded like I was going crazy. "Well, someone should be coming to find us soon I'm sure. All we have to do is wait."

She looked up at me, nodding again.

I felt rather awkward and turned my eyes to the ocean. It looked bluer than ever, and I felt...pulled to it, like whatever I wanted was in there somewhere. I found this very odd, as I didn't especially feel like I had been looking for fish all my life.

I frowned, remembering something. When I was drowning, someone had squeezed my hand and swam up with me to the surface. It must have been Sybil, but...I was sure it wasn't.

"Sybil, give me your hand," I said suddenly.

Her eyes flicked to me. "What?"

I simply grabbed her hand. It wasn't her, the hand had not been hers.

She was staring at me oddly. I realized that I was acting very oddly as well.

So I smiled at her. "You saved my life," I said.

She opened her mouth, then shut it, and gave me a thin smile.

I looked back at the ocean. There were white sails in the distance already. They were looking for us.

Whoever had saved me...it didn't make sense. I remembered I'd been blacked out and I hadn't gone to the surface, but then when whoever it was had grabbed my hand I'd suddenly found enough strength to swim up at least a short ways. I wanted to know who it was. I _needed_ to know who it was.

* * *

Hope you enjoyed! Review! Oh, and I didn't proofread (again). I think I'm just going to be really lazy on this story and not proof any of it, so point out any mistakes you see:D 


	4. Chapter 4

Shallis

I couldn't forget him. Or any of it, for that matter. Him, the wall, the girl, the whole strange world above the sea. It had taken hold of me, possessed my very being. Maybe it was just curiosity running too deep, but I felt like it was more than that.

I found the wall in the water and followed it. It was a circle, reaching close in to shore and far out around the City. It was the farthest away I'd ever been from the City. I stared menacingly at it, as if I thought I could tear it down with my eyes.

It wavered in the water and shimmered with translucent light. The waves pushed it closer to me, as if it was beckoning to me, tempting me to come closer.

I stayed where I was.

The light reached out to touch me with long, spindly fingers, before retreating back again. _Will you stay in your circle of safety, then, along with the rest of them? Will you ever live in fear of what you could be?_

I swallowed. I wanted to swim through. I didn't want to swim through.

The silvery-white wall slipped through the water, sweetly enticing. _Won't you see what's on the other side?_

"It's just water, nothing but water!" I half shouted.

There was no sound, just the sea, my sea. My home.

I was beginning to feel like I was losing my mind. Being with the humans had addled me. I was about to turn away when I saw something, a streak of gold on the other side. It was beautiful, terribly beautiful, though it carried a sense of foreboding with it.

_Don't you want to understand?_

I looked at my hands. They were the hands of a human; the webbing had slipped off completely. _I looked like a human._ Before I hardly knew what I was doing, I had dove through the wall.

I immediately regretted it. I could feel my fin, being torn in half, the scales and muscle all being ripped apart. And I couldn't breathe, either. It felt like my chest was being squeezed tightly and it might soon explode from the pressure. I took a frantic breath and felt the water enter my mouth and slide down my throat. I choked and gasped, which only brought in more water.

The world started to blink and shudder, and the colors all seemed off somehow. Then it all faded away.

I woke up on land. It was hot. And dry. When I opened my eyes my vision was bombarded with light. It hurt my eyes and water came out of them, dripping onto my cheeks. I wiped them away, wondering what had happened to me. The waves were lapping at my ankles. I realized then that I was breathing, though I wasn't underwater. I bolted upright. That was another odd thing. I'd never really sat up before. Then I saw. I had legs. _Legs_, just like a human. And the webbing in my fingers had already been gone. I _was_ a human.

I didn't know what to make of the fact. I hadn't chosen to be a human, but I had chosen to swim the wall. I'd wanted to understand, but now I just felt more confused than ever.

I looked at the sea in front of me. It looked strange, seeing it from land. It was flat and stretched out all the way to meet the blue above it. Some white creatures, the birds you call gulls, dove and screeched above it. Behind me was green with things like seaweed all about. Everything was blown back and forth by some sort of waves in the air. Everything seemed to know it's place in this world, except for me. I never felt so alone.

After sitting for a time, I thought I might as well try getting up on my legs, since that was what they were there for. I pushed myself up with my hands, planting my feet firmly upon the sand, and for the first time in my life, I stood. It hurt, incredibly much. It was a sharp pain, shooting up my entire leg, as though a great iron rod had gone through me. I felt back to the ground, biting my lip hard.

Something hit my chest as I fell. I looked. It was a perfect conch shell, tied around my neck. It hadn't been there when I was a mermaid. I took it off and looked at it. It was pearly white and smooth. It was something familiar, something from the sea, even if I didn't know where it had came from. I leaned my head against it. I frowned slightly. I could hear the sea in it. I pressed it closer to my ear. The water, I could hear it, rushing in and out. Then there was a voice.

"_You are no human. You will only return from whence you came, the foam of the sea."_

* * *

Sybil

I felt horrible lying to Thylan, but I didn't know what else to do. I felt sure the girl, whoever she had been, didn't want me to tell anyone about her. I wasn't really sure how I knew this, as her hand motions hadn't been exactly clear. All the same, I knew it. I understood her somehow.

Well, perhaps understood wouldn't be the best way of putting it, as I had no idea what she was doing out that deep, or where she vanished to after she left us. But that wasn't any of my business anyhow. It was her secret, her life, and if she didn't want anyone to know about it, I wasn't about to interfere.

But Thylan...I'm not sure he even believed me anyway. (He now assures me rather dramatically that he can always see right through my lies.) Anyhow, as soon as we got back to the palace he started pacing all about like a mad man.

"Sybil, I had it—it was there, and then—I lost it again!" he kept saying to me over and over again.

He never answered my questions of what exactly it was that he had, but I guessed he was talking about what he said on the ship, that all his life he'd been looking for something. It made me wonder if there had been more to the girl rescuing him than there seemed. I was sure he would want to know about her, but I was also sure I wouldn't tell him. After a while, I figured that I couldn't possibly be of any more use to him simply following him about, so I left him to go to my own chambers.

My bag was sitting on my bed—someone had salvaged it from the wreck. I took the conch shell out of it and held it to my ear again. There was the ocean, and then the voice again.

"You may go to the sea, if you must, but if you do, that is all you shall ever be."

It said the same thing. When I had first found it I thought there must be something magical about the shell, but now it didn't seem so. It was just echoes. It was an odd thing to say, to be sure, but that's all it was. Just words. I sighed and sat on my bed. Then I got up again, and walked around. I was getting as bad as Thylan. Finally, I took the shell with me down to the sea shore.

I thought about the voice, said the words over and over again in my head, until they sounded like my own. My own words, my own voice. I even said it out loud.

"You may go to the sea, if you must, but if you do, that is all you shall ever be."

I dropped the shell. The words—the voice—it _was_ my voice. I frantically grabbed the shell from the sand and pressed it against my ear. I was imagining things, the voice couldn't have been my voice, I'd never said anything like that. But I wanted to hear it to be sure. Only this time it was different words, my voice.

"Is it you, Sybil?"

I flung the shell at the ground, feeling like screaming. What kind of nightmare was this?

"Sybil, is something wrong?" I heard a voice.

I whirled toward Thylan, glancing at the shell on the sand. I debated what to do for a moment. I didn't want to sound mad. After a moment I simply picked up the shell and thrust it at him.

"Listen," I demanded of him.

He took it, looking confused, and held it to his ear. "I hear the ocean," he said slowly after a moment.

"And nothing else?" I asked.

"No."

I sighed in relief.

"Sybil, are you alright?" Thylan asked, his stormy eyes searching mine.

"I'm fine," I said hurriedly. "I just—I think I might be a little shocked from the wreck." It could be true. Perhaps that's why I was hearing things. "What are you doing?"

"I'm going sailing," he said with a grin. He gestured at his tiny boat, pulled up onto shore, the one that looked like it was half falling apart already. Normally I felt like it was quite safe, but...not now.

I glanced at him. I couldn't forget the feeling of knowing he was drowning and not being able to do anything about it. "You're going sailing, this soon after the wreck?"

"Yep. I'm not afraid of a little water," he boasted. "I suppose you don't want to come?"

I shook my head.

"Well, I'll be seeing you," he said. He started to walk away, towards the sea. I felt like I was losing him to the sea again, and this time he'd never come back.

"Thylan!" I shouted.

He turned to me.

I ran to him, stopping just in front of him. If I took one step closer I'd be touching him. I pursed my lips—hard. "You'll come back?" I asked.

He looked in between half confused, half amused. "Of course I'll come back, Sybil. Why wouldn't I?"

"Just...promise me you will?" I asked desperately. I needed him to promise.

He took a step towards me and leaned in to kiss the corner of my mouth. "I promise," he said softly.

I just stood dumbly, feeling awkward under his gaze.

After a moment he turned away and pushed his boat out into the water.

* * *

Thylan

After we'd come back, Father told me I couldn't sail anymore. He didn't want me dying before my wedding. I was less than pleased at him. If I couldn't sail, how could I find whoever had saved me? The fact of the matter was, I couldn't. So I decided I'd simply go anyway. Finding them was certainly more important than obeying Father, wasn't it?

I honestly don't know why I kissed Sybil, when I knew that someone else had saved me, someone else was everything I was looking for. But she was...pretty and my best friend and she looked like she was about to start bawling simply because I was going sailing. It wasn't right, though. Kissing her didn't feel right, just like holding her hand didn't feel right.

I pushed the tiny sailboat out into the water and jumped on it. It was easy to catch the wind and the white sail billowed out almost immediately. I went fast, not caring _where_ I went, but all the same I found myself heading to the abandoned island. I always went there. There was something odd about the place, something odd and mysterious, like a touch of destiny was on. Most people thought it was just creepy, the whole island had drowned. But I liked it.

I could see someone sitting on shore. When I got closer I could see it was a girl. Could she be—? I threw my anchor over starboard side and jumped into the water once I was close enough to walk to shore.

The girl saw me and ran a hand through her coppery hair. She stood up—then fell back down again and stared at me.

* * *

I was looking at my profile and I realized that I hadn't updated this for like a month! I really don't know what happened, I just kind of forgot about it. I'm really sorry about that! So I hope you enjoyed this chapter, I'll try to update a lot sooner! Remember to review!  



	5. Chapter 5

Thylan

As I moved closer to her, I began to wonder what exactly she was. She looked human, but...not entirely human. Her skin was so pale and it seemed as though beneath it, it was moving, like watering rippling through, as though at any moment she could burst into a sea of waves at my feet. Her eyes were a deep, watery blue also, like the sea. Her hair was more human, a coppery color, like polished pennies, but it seemed to add to her etherealness. She was beautiful, almost too beautiful to be real.

I took two steps closer, then stopped, afraid she would wither and fade away if I took one more. A gust of wind burst at us, and the way her hair moved, it was like it was floating, flowing through the water. What was this strange and unearthly maiden, be she immortal fay or dark sorceress, friend or foe? (Shallis laughs at my speech, calling it mere flattery, but it is true! I tell her to look in the mirror at herself.)

At that singular, individual moment in time and space, she happened to smile at me, hesitantly at first, but seemingly growing more sure of herself. Her smile was human, but not the dark, fallen side of humanity; it was everything that was good, everything that was lovely, everything that was innocent in this world. I was entranced.

I stepped forward and put my hand out for her to reach for, to shake or to help her up; it didn't matter which. She glanced at me oddly, no idea what I was doing. I dropped to the ground in front of her, on my knees. "I'm Thylan," I said earnestly, looking into her eyes.

She nodded, and opened her mouth to speak, shaping the words on her lips. None came out. She tried again, still nothing. She put her hand to her throat, frantically, it seemed. It fluttered there, shaking. She glanced from the beach, to the shoreline and the breaking waves, and out to sea, again and again.

I watched her carefully, confused. I wanted to help her, but...I wasn't sure what the matter was. She seemed surprised that she couldn't talk. Maybe she'd been in a shipwreck and she had a...cold or something, that took away her voice. But it would come back wouldn't it? You don't just...lose your voice.

She seemed like more than a shipwrecked girl, to me, though. I was still clinging to some desperate hope that she was the girl who'd saved me, who'd grasped onto my hand when I was drowning, pulled me back of the dark void of death. She looked pitifully lost, though. The girl who'd saved me wasn't lost, I was sure of it.

Finally I leaned forward and put my hand on her shoulders, stopping her frightened shaking and worrying, whatever the matter was. "Are you alright?" I asked her slowly, then stopped, waiting for some sort of an answer.

She pursed her lips and nodded slightly, then shook her head. (Shallis, by the way, still can't ever make up her mind about anything. She's always staring at all of her clothes, trying to decide what to wear, how to do her hair, what color...tablecloths to use, what...I'll stop before she hits me again.)

"You can come with me, to the palace. I'm—I'm the prince, see and...I'm sure you could stay there, until you're...alright again," I said to her, feeling like an idiot the way I stumbled over everything. (Which, Sybil and Shallis inform me, I am.)

She nodded slightly and I helped her to her feet. She smiled at me. I stared at her hands and wondered what they felt like, realizing I didn't feel quite as lost as I had before. Or maybe I only noticed that someone else was far more lost than I was.

Shallis

I wasn't entirely sure what I was doing go to this...palace with Thylan. It certainly wasn't going to get me home very quickly, as it was certainly taking me farther from the City than I already was, farther than I'd already been. But he was the one I'd saved from drowning, and no matter how many times I cursed myself for going through the wall, I never regretted it when he smiled at me. (He tells me that this is because he just _so _ruggedly handsome and manly, to which Sybil and I simply laugh.)

Even if he _was _slightly (and only slightly) handsome, it was more than that. I remembered the way his hand had felt, the urgency of needing to get to the surface, I needed him to live. I couldn't just refuse to go with him now, when we were...I don't know how to describe it...(Thylan says swimming-buddies...), linked somehow. Like a chain, unbreakable, connecting my life to his.

So I went with him. His boat was small, flimsy even, but I didn't mind. I'd never seen a boat before, and never even seen the ocean from the top of it. It was beautiful, the waves drifting, the boat bobbing in the choppy waves, up and down, up and down.

And Thylan. I (ashamedly, as he's sitting beside me. Take that, Thylan!) admit to having some rather girlish fantasies involving him. What can I say, I saved him and now he was saving me, and I had every right to be _unashamedly _infatuated with him. Besides, he already admitted how I am too ethereally beautiful to truly belong in the world. (We're even now, for the moment.)

He briefly explained to me how, precisely his sailboat was rigged, how the rudder worked and all the ropes. It was interesting, everything was to me, even if I didn't completely understand. It was all so strange and foreign and I loved it.

We came to the beach at last, of some other island, I assumed. He pulled the boat up onto the sand, and I jumped out. The sand was soft and warm at my feet, as was the sun at my back. It seemed a blessing now, to be warm, no longer a curse, trying to dry me out, like seaweed or dead fish that got washed up too far on shore.

His palace was glorious. The sun reflected on it so beautifully, like it was made of glass, or water, as I would think of it. We walked into it; I stared in wide-eyed wonderment at everything, as he held my arm and led me through the long and grand halls, with the high-vaulted ceilings and arched doorways, the columns of white marble, etched with images of waves and sea creatures, with shells polished and set in them perfectly.

People stared as we walked past them. They were maids and butlers, servants as I learned, dressed plainly, but in much more, thicker clothes than I. It was then that I realized I wasn't quite like them. Where their skin was dark, and tanned by the sun, mine was pale, like those marble columns and lined, the way all merfolk were, like scales, but...not, actually much different, though I won't go into detail.

And where their eyes were warm brown or a pale, grey-ish blue, mine were far, far bluer, with a greenish tint, as the sea was. I had legs like they did, but still. Their hair also, was different. I wouldn't call it dull, but they _did_ stare at mine and the vibrancy of it.

I had legs as they did, but it was very clear to me that I was different, and they were the same. Some of them frowned at me, like they didn't approve of the way I was. But it wasn't my fault, I couldn't change it. However, Thylan eventually handed me over to some maids, to have them dress me properly, as I was only wearing an airy, sheer dress, that apparently covered nowhere near as much skin as it was supposed. I'm not entirely sure how I even got _that, _but somehow I had it, as with the necklace around my neck.

Sybil

I watched him bring her in, with his sailboat, from the sea. She was the girl from the sea, the one who'd saved him. I knew he would find her, somehow. Truthfully, I wasn't sure what I thought of it. I was half glad, because he'd found her and none of my lying to him had been able to stop that now. It wasn't my fault. But in another way...the way he looked at her...he was _my _Thylan, my almost betrothed, my best friend. (Thylan says that I, too, was head over heels in love with him. Shallis gives me her most sympathetic smile.)

Though, I wouldn't ever tell it to him, (though he's reading this so it doesn't really matter), maybe I was. Or maybe it was only the fact that he was there that made me want him. He was there, so why shouldn't I marry him? Wasn't that why they'd brought me, from my island and my home, those years ago?

But now he'd brought her, from goodness knows where. And the way she looked and the way she dressed! It was insane and was sure to be the talk of the entire court. Poor girl. I could only imagine the rumors. She didn't know what she was getting herself into, coming here. (Shallis tells me, nudging Thylan, that she still doesn't and has no idea what she was thinking.)

In any case, I didn't go down to meet her. I watched from my window, then went down the stairs and followed them through all the halls in the back ways from which they'd never see me. Oddly, I knew the palace better than Thylan did; I spent far more time exploring it.

I waited until he had bestowed her carefully to the maids, before stepping out of the shadows. "Thylan," I said.

He turned quickly, startled. "Sybil," he said, sounding slightly guilty. "I didn't know you were there."

"I know," I said, fingering one of the seashells worked into the wall. I looked at him. He didn't look me in the eye, looked down instead. I knew he was thinking of our kiss; I was, too. He kissed me, and then ran off and came back with this girl. "Thylan," I said again, "why did you bring her?"

He glanced at me, in my eyes, then down again. "I...she was shipwrecked, I think. I thought she needed some help. I...I wanted to help her, Sybil. I thought you would, too, maybe."

I nodded. I suppose...I would want to help. You couldn't just leave a shipwrecked girl on some island, all alone. But...still, the way he'd been staring at her, like he'd lost it completely, like she was the only thing that mattered to him now. "What's her name?" I asked.

"I..." he frowned. "I don't know. I didn't ask." He looked confused for a moment (as he usually does, though he protests this remark), then shrugged.

I laughed. _That _was the Thylan I knew, save a girl and bring her to the palace, but don't ask her name. I wanted to tell him everything then, about the seashell with the voice that he couldn't hear, what it said to me, how it spoke with my voice, almost. How...I was slightly head over heels in love with him. But at that moment, his father came and he ran off again, as he does.


End file.
